Asceder on its way

[Chris81]

Hello all! Guess you could say I'm fairly new to rc cars since I had one at age 14, and then not again until this last January, Axial Dingo, which I sold this spring to pay for a new bike frame....fast forward 4 months and I regreted selling it :/ So after getting the "itch" a few weeks ago I said f$!# it and ordered an ascended kit and parts. Looking forward to the build and seeing the difference between the axial and vaterra brands I've read so much about! I wanted the kit but like the K10 so I am thinking about selling the blazer and going with the K10 body, other than that I will tweak/mod as I go no real plan...yet. Cheers to everyone, and that's for all the awsome posts, great ideas and LOTs to think about/drool over! I'll post a couple pics soon. Oh yeah, any vaterra guys in Maine? Not a huge RC scene up here as far as I can tell...

[Jeepiac]

Congratulations on becoming the proud owner of an Ascender, and welcome to the forum. Keep us posted on your progress and pictures are always great!

[Itali83]

The ascenders are awesome! Where in Maine are you? I'm in Westbrook next to Portland. There are a few of us with ascenders that get together regularly. Here's a link to my build. Read it and read natedog's thread too. I learned everything from him. Look forward to seeing your truck and maybe meeting up.
My baby blazer

Ben

[anuthabubba]

Originally Posted by Chris81

Hello all! Guess you could say I'm fairly new to rc cars since I had one at age 14, and then not again until this last January, Axial Dingo, which I sold this spring to pay for a new bike frame....fast forward 4 months and I regreted selling it :/ So after getting the "itch" a few weeks ago I said f$!# it and ordered an ascended kit and parts. Looking forward to the build and seeing the difference between the axial and vaterra brands I've read so much about! I wanted the kit but like the K10 so I am thinking about selling the blazer and going with the K10 body, other than that I will tweak/mod as I go no real plan...yet. Cheers to everyone, and that's for all the awsome posts, great ideas and LOTs to think about/drool over! I'll post a couple pics soon. Oh yeah, any vaterra guys in Maine? Not a huge RC scene up here as far as I can tell...

The Ascender is a pretty dern good performing truck, right outa the box. Go fer it! Have ordered a coupla (inexpensive) different bodies for my K10 and am in the process of doing a few suspension, CG and wheel/tire alterations.

[Natedog]

Congratulations, welcome and looking forward to your build!

[Chris81]

So had a few hours last night to start on my truck...Starting to look like more than a box of parts. glad I read through the tips, there still seems to be a few spots in the direction s that are a little ...fuzzy. super impressed with how stout everything seems to be though, seems to be way ahead of what my stock dingo was without doing a thing! ill get some pictures together once i get painting, cheers

[Chris81]

I'm up in farmington....so quite a ways from....everything :p

Build update: it's running waiting on paint for the body, as my tire glue to dry, drove it around a few min today just to try it out, but my tires kept falling off lol...Hopfylly tomorrow I can actually test it out more! Super impressed withe the build quality though, not so much with the instructions....seems to be the same issues people had 2 years ago, somewhat annoying edits have not been made, or atleast an aditiona insert. I didn't have any major problems...Just minor annoyances figuring out link lengths etc.

[Hobbezco]

Originally Posted by Chris81

I'm up in farmington....so quite a ways from....everything :p

Build update: it's running waiting on paint for the body, as my tire glue to dry, drove it around a few min today just to try it out, but my tires kept falling off lol...Hopfylly tomorrow I can actually test it out more! Super impressed withe the build quality though, not so much with the instructions....seems to be the same issues people had 2 years ago, somewhat annoying edits have not been made, or atleast an aditiona insert. I didn't have any major problems...Just minor annoyances figuring out link lengths etc.

Welcome to my world. I am (far, far) north of the southern triangle too, GLT in Oakland is the closest shop to me and is still 90 mins south. My father is running a dam building project up your way, so I head up there couple times a month to visit them and there are some really good places to crawl up in the Rangeley area. It is worth the trip down to Bradbury and Reid too, awesome places. Of course I hit everything at that goes on at Granite Leisure time too, just because they are closest. There is an event there on next Sunday (09/1 actually if you feel like making the trip.

We (little lady and I) love our Vaterras. I recently won a scx10 deadbolt and it just doesn't perform like our Ascenders do. The manual does kinda suck. But, there is plenty of help here and some really great minds working on customization. Don't hesitate to ask if you need any help, I feel the members in this Vaterra section have the best attitudes of any of the sections here on the forums.

[Chris81]

Originally Posted by Hobbezco

, I feel the members in this Vaterra section have the best attitudes of any of the sections here on the forums.

I wouagree with you there, everyone in this section seems genuinely excited to help each other out with tips and tricks in a productive way.

The build....it's built...still has a junk body on it that's WaY too small lol. I've got the blazer mostly taped and ready to paint. I have run one battery through it (4000) mAh....took me 3 days! (I have 1 19 mo old, so not a lot of play time for dad) realized my property is surrounded by old stone walls in the woods...so some perfect trail/crawling spots out my door!! I will get some pictures up soon. Cheers all!

[Traulus]

Only part wich bothers me on K10 are the glued wheels.....makes me go nuts

[Natedog]

Almost every RTR RC has tires glued to plastic wheels, beadlocks would be nice, but raise RTR price and not everybody likes the same beadlocks.

[Chris81]

I really like the hummer wheels from RC4WD....but... $$$ so unless I find some cheap I'll probably go with something else.

Painting this weekend, will finally get some pics up!

Cheers!

[Chris81]

Finally some pics. Painted up the body and finished the decals last night. first run with the body today, as you can see it was a little wet and slippery. body def adds some weight up high. I'll probably lower it a bit at some point, with the extra weight I can see right away where sway bars will help things out too. not sure if you can see in the pics, but I was playing around on old stone walls in the woods at my house.

Ohh and a quick rundown of equipment: rc4wd 35T motor, hobby wing 1060 esc, gt3b radio, taxxas 2075 servo (needs an upgrade) cheap 4000mah 2s battery, nothing fancy. Pretty much stock set up except I put my esc next to the searing servo. the mounting plate will also screw in up there. At some point it will be moved to make room for a winch servo. lots to think about now that it's built!!
Cheers

[JatoTheRipper]

Very nice truck! Good job on the build.

Are you addicted yet?

[Chris81]

addicted...i don't know what your talking about...

So I had time yesterday to go play in the woods a bit, I have a long section of old rock wall that boarders my property and makes a great crawling area, anyway during this one of my rear tires came unglued ...so i considered this equipment breakage and decided I needed beadlocks! Found a set of 4 Twinhammer beadlocks for $20 on ebay, and I also figured I should get some new foams to go inside...so i have some CI Dueces Wild single stages on the way too. Based on what everyone has said about these I'm hoping the improve performance a bit, I also need to lower the body more to get that CG lower, and I def need a better steering servo, which will also mean a BEC...I guess that's my short list

Cheers!

[rag6]

Im not running mine hardcore, I picked up a savox 0251.... Much stronger than stock, no bec needed. It will break something if I jam it up. Only 35$ at my lhs... Its not waterproof but savox has the wp version fir 40$

[Chris81]

Originally Posted by rag6

Im not running mine hardcore, I picked up a savox 0251.... Much stronger than stock, no bec needed. It will break something if I jam it up. Only 35$ at my lhs... Its not waterproof but savox has the wp version fir 40$

I'll have to look into that thanks! the traxxas 2075 is, not cutting it, i'm not too concerned with waterproof...but if the price is right...

Had time tonight to lower the body a bit, i trimmed everything up so the bottom of the front grill is maybe 3mm above the front bumper and the rear bumper is just below the body line below the chevy sticker. lowered about 1/2-3/4 an inch. New wheels and foams should be here friday!, once all is installed i'll throw up some more pics

on another note, i know a lot of people internally limit their shocks, I'm sure this helps climbing and side-hilling, but does it negatively affect your ability to get over boulders and things? it seems that it would limit how far down your wheels can drop behind an obstacle to pull you over? I live in western Maine and the majority of stuff around here is New England boulders, old rock walls, and rooty stuff, not a lot of big steep granite slabs like on the coast. Thoughts?

Also...best way to remove chrome from plastic? thinking about going with all black wheels on the twin hammers beadlocks depending on how they look.

Cheers!

[Chris81]

OHH YEAH and i cut that stupid molding strip that runs down the center of the TSL tires out...maybe i'm crazy...but they look way better, and i would expect they should shed mud from that area better too.

[Itali83]

I hear you on the internal limiting of the shocks. Since I'm on the coast and run mostly the steep slabs of granite etc, the limiting really helps a ton. But I do notice where getting up on a blunt object can be challenging. I limited my truck 5mm and think that's a good happy medium. The rear sway bar is the best suspension mod so I'd do that first and leave the shocks for now to see how you like it.

How'd you trim the mould line on the tires. It's always bothered me but haven't done anything about it lol.
Ben

[svt923]

Originally Posted by Chris81

I'll have to look into that thanks! the traxxas 2075 is, not cutting it, i'm not too concerned with waterproof...but if the price is right...

Had time tonight to lower the body a bit, i trimmed everything up so the bottom of the front grill is maybe 3mm above the front bumper and the rear bumper is just below the body line below the chevy sticker. lowered about 1/2-3/4 an inch. New wheels and foams should be here friday!, once all is installed i'll throw up some more pics

on another note, i know a lot of people internally limit their shocks, I'm sure this helps climbing and side-hilling, but does it negatively affect your ability to get over boulders and things? it seems that it would limit how far down your wheels can drop behind an obstacle to pull you over? I live in western Maine and the majority of stuff around here is New England boulders, old rock walls, and rooty stuff, not a lot of big steep granite slabs like on the coast. Thoughts?

Also...best way to remove chrome from plastic? thinking about going with all black wheels on the twin hammers beadlocks depending on how they look.

Cheers!

The best way I found to remove the chrome is throw the parts in a ziplock bag with enough Super Clean to cover them and wait a day or so. I did my Blazer grill, Bronco grill, and a set of Vaterra wheels with this method so it works.

As for servos, the Tower Pro MG958 is great for a low dollar upgrade. $11 gets you a servo that is as good as anything costing 3-4X as much. Throw in a CC BEC and cheap aluminum servo horn for a solid setup that isn't much more than a low end, name brand servo (that will either have less torque or weaker brass gear construction). The MG958 also makes a bad ass servo winch.

Towerpro MG958 55g 20KG High Torque Digital Metal Gear Servo Sale - Banggood.com

When it comes to limiting the shocks, I didn't notice a significant negative effects. My truck actually runs 90mm shocks instead of the 108mm stock length so the height has been much reduced and it still gets over damn near everything it did in stock form. The additional stability from the lower CG is the big difference, especially in the side hill situations.